Alen's Story
“If I started to write, I’d have to write 180 books,” said Alen, a young boy from Bosnia.
When he was in middle school he already felt like he lived through enough to fill a small library – a library of books that would be very painful for most adults to read. Alen survived one of the worst massacres in Bosnia before escaping to the United States with his family.
With four other Bosnian Muslim children, he attended a weekly support group organized by CVT in Minnesota. The support group was a place where the kids talked about what they endured; for many it was their first opportunity to tell their stories. Their stories, it has to be said, are pretty hard to take. These children have lived with combat and death. With support from CVT, Alen and the other children were given the opportunity to heal from the atrocities they witnessed.
Photo: Matt Knight
The names of survivors and some personal details have been changed to protect their identity. The photos represent the many countries and cultures represented by torture survivors. We do not use images of survivors to protect their identity and their safety.